BitMEX Bitcoin Hedging Futures Reborn

In the past few months, BitMEX has shifted focus towards speculative Bitcoin trading products. Our most successful product, is the 100x leveraged Bitcoin / USD daily futures contract, XBT24H. We have not forgotten about the hedging needs of the community. In order to increase liquidity in our Bitcoin Hedging XBU chain of futures contracts, we have reduced the maturity and restructured the fee schedule.

The BitMEX Bitcoin / USD Hedging Weekly Futures Contract, XBU7D, will expire every Friday at 12:00 GMT. The settlement price will be based on the two hour Time Weighted Average Price (TWAP) from 10:00 GMT to 12:00 GMT on the TradeBlock XBX Index. XBU7D goes live Friday December 25 12:00 GMT.

XBU7D is called a hedging futures contract because BitMEX guarantees settlement. Unlike the highly leveraged Bitcoin Speculation futures contracts, there are no profit adjustments. BitMEX is able to guarantee settlement because of a conservative margin policy. When placing an order, traders are granted 3.33x leverage (an initial margin of 30%). Traders are margin called once the leverage rises above 5x (a maintenance margin of 20%). BitMEX will use the 20% equity remaining to close out the position at prevailing market prices. BitMEX will close positions until a trader’s effective leverage has fallen below 5x. For more details about the margin policy for the hedging contracts, please read Margin Call and Liquidation.

In order to attract more liquidity, the fee schedule has been restructured. Makers who provide liquidity will be paid 0.10%. Takers will pay 0.30%.